What’s in a door?

What's in a door? How should you look for quality? Brad Loveless has some recommendations for you. (File Photo)

SPONSORED – Many people don’t think of doors when they think of qualities of their home they enjoy, but with tips from Brad Loveless from Simpson Door, you can love your doors just as much as you love everything else in your home.

A quality door, says Brad, relies on construction. “Even though a door may look, from the exterior, visually appealing, but beyond that, is that door made a certain way to last a lifetime?” he asks.

Pete adds that quality is very important due to the Pacific Northwest’s weather patterns. When wood gets wet, it expands, and all the expansion and contraction of your door can shorten its lifetime.

If you’re looking for a wood door, you have your choice in wood types. “In the past year, we’ve made doors from over 100 types of wood species,” Brad says. “By far the most popular [though] in the Northwest is the Douglas fir and Western hemlock.” Both tree species, he adds, perform similarly in weather, and the difference lies in aesthetics. The benefits lie in their cell structures; both tree species have tighter grain material, which make it more stable in varying types of weather.

Brad says that the construction process also affects the lifespan of your door. Quality doors have been kiln-dried, which, other than the cell structure of the wood, is the best way to restrict the level of moisture in your door. Doors are made of multiple pieces of wood, and by gluing those pieces together, different levels of moisture are potentially placed together. By kiln-drying, the components of the door are brought to similar levels of moisture, which will help keep your door from warping.

If you’re considering a wood door, Brad says if you don’t have a porch or overhang, you should consider protecting your door with additional protective coats, or overlays. Driving Seattle rain can also cause damage to your door, so it’s best to consider the weather when deciding on a wood door.